While some of them had no social media presence, their impact will last a lifetime — etched into every image, broadcast, and memory their work helped create
In the late hours of Sunday (August 10) near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, a targeted attack by Israeli army claimed the lives of seven journalists, including five correspondents from Al Jazeera.
Among the fallen were Anas Al Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh — reporters whose relentless frontlines coverage had been a vital thread in weaving the stories of the Gaza war into the global conversation. The journalists were inside a tent set up at the hospital’s main gate, a sanctuary for those bearing witness to the war’s harsh realities, when the strike turned that refuge into a scene of devastation.
Alongside Al Sharif and Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa were also killed, their loss marking a grim toll on the journalistic community covering the conflict.
Their lives behind the camera were as compelling as the stories they told, revealing a profound commitment to humanity amidst conflict.
Mohammed Qreiqeh
The journalist left behind traces of his personal world on social media — snapshots of love and loss that now serve as a testament to the man behind the lens.
Mohammed Qreiqeh’s pinned Instagram post featured a touching photo of himself with Zeina Ismail Al-Ghoul, the daughter of the Al Jazeera journalist killed just last month when an Israeli air attack struck their cat in the Shati refugee camp. His own daughter is also named Zeina. Tragically, with his death, both Zeinas are now fatherless.
Mohammed with Zeina Ismail Al-Ghoul. Photo: Instagram/Mohammed Qreiqeh
In the post, Mohammed described Zeina’s innocent recognition of her late father’s image on a hospital wall. “She saw his picture on the wall of the Baptist hospital and said with utmost innocence, ‘This is my father, Ismail!’ This innocence stirred in us an overwhelming grief.”
Another poignant post nine months ago features a video of Mohammed listening to a voice note from his daughter, Zina, who had memorised Surat Al-Fatiha while displaced.
Check out the video below:
https://geo.dailymotion.com/player/xiqks.html?video=x9oju3k
Just days before his death, Mohammed’s final Instagram post captured him engaging with Gaza’s children amid the rubble, painting a heartbreaking picture of lost childhoods.
“These children were supposed to be on a summer leisure trip, visiting amusement parks and gardens, carrying their dreams in small bags, drawing their innocence on the sea sand,” he wrote.
Another touching post from earlier this year shows Mohammed meeting his children after 15 months apart due to ongoing Israeli aggression — moments filmed by none other than Anas Al Sharif, who himself would later be killed alongside Qreiqeh. The post reads: “May God have mercy on our heroes who carried the truth with their voices.”
مشاهد مؤثرة للصحفي الشـ ـهيد محمد قريقع في بداية العام الجاري، وهو يلتقي أبناءه للمرة الأولى بعد فراق دام 15 شهرًا بسبب العـ ـدوان الإسرائيلي على غـ ـزة.
— محمد قريقع (@Mohamed_qraiqea) August 11, 2025
هذه اللحظات وثّقها زميله الصحفي أنس الشريف، الذي استـ ـشهد اليوم إلى جانب محمد.
رحم الله أبطالنا الذين حملوا الحقيقة بصوتهم pic.twitter.com/53K701Fslx
Anas Al Sharif
Just a year ago, Anas Al Sharif shared a joyful update with his followers: “The journalist colleague Mohammed Quraiqa joins the ranks of Al Jazeera correspondents in the Gaza Strip.”
الزميل الصحفي محمد قريقع ينضم لكوكبة مراسلي الجزيرة في قطاع غزة..#التغطية_مستمرة pic.twitter.com/fMpHjCKN9D
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) August 15, 2024
It was more than a welcome — it was the beginning of a shared mission. The two men would work side by side, telling the stories of a besieged land with unflinching honesty.
Today, both Anas and Mohammed lie among Gaza’s fallen, their courage immortalised in the stories they risked — and ultimately gave — their lives to tell.
Israel’s military claimed that Al Sharif was a Hamas cell leader, but rights advocates, fellow journalists, and press freedom groups said there was no evidence to support that. To them, Anas was targetted for his relentless frontline reporting — the kind that made the war’s devastation impossible to ignore. He made the war seen and felt in every corner of the world.
Anas’s commitment was not just professional; it was deeply human. A video from July 20, now widely shared, shows him breaking down during a live broadcast as he reported on worsening starvation in Gaza.
In the clip, his voice falters, eyes brimming with grief. Someone behind the camera gently urges him on: “Keep going, Anas. You are our voice.”
https://geo.dailymotion.com/player/xiqks.html?video=x9ojdqo
The eyes of Gaza
The loss extended beyond correspondents to those who worked quietly but powerfully behind the camera.
Moamen Aliwa, a cameraman whose lens captured the war’s most searing images, understood that a single frame could bear witness in ways words could not.
Just two weeks ago, he posted a reel of a grieving mother’s wails as a man walked beside her, carrying the small, white-wrapped body of her dead child.
Nine weeks earlier, Moamen had posted a simple photo of himself, smiling. holding a paper cup in one hand and a phone in another — a fleeting moment of normalcy. No one knew it would be his last photo, his final proof of a life lived with purpose, now frozen in time.
Another cameraman, Ibrahim Zaher, also fell in the attack. Like Moamen, his life and work are now fixed in memory at the age he left this world — an unchanging image of youth, talent, and dedication cut short.
Mohammed Noufal, the team’s assistant, was the quiet backbone of the operation — the one who carried equipment through rubble-strewn streets, set up the live feeds, and ensured that the cameras kept rolling even when power failed.
(L-R). Mohammed Noufal and Ibrahim Zaher
He rarely appeared in front of the lens, but without him, much of the coverage the world saw would never have been possible.
While Noufal and Zaher had no social media presence, their impact will last a lifetime — etched into every image, broadcast, and memory their work helped create.
C. Khaleej Times
